Geniza Lab

Private accounts of al-Shaykh Bū Ḥasan in Arabic script starting with a basmala and heading "ḥisāb al-Shaykh Bū l-Ḥasan". An example of the accounts includes., "I received 2 dinars minus 1/8, and 44 dirhams, and 5 fils." Then about 20 double lines of specifications. Some months are also mentioned without years.

Lease of an apartment to a parnas as settlement of a debt, AD 1029-1031. The qodesh owes Yaʿaqov b. Mevasser (whom we shall find six years later in charge of the properties of the qodesh) 10 dinars, apparently the balance of money borrowes from him to carry out repairs in the arba, the estates, belonging to the qodesh. The parnasim do not find any way to pay him this sum, and therefore it is decided to lease him the compound of the qodesh in the b. Khabisa lane for two years, for 5 dinars a year. The four parnasim receive permission to do this from Isaac ha-Kohen b. Haggay, who was apparently a member of the court, the whole community being witness to the act of lease. The compound seems to be Dar Sumana. Some special stipulation was added regarding the hikr, probably stating which of the two parties had to pay it. The verso, which was probably written two years later, includes a declaration, which apparently definitively absolves the qodesh from payment of the last five dinars still due to Yaʿaqov b. Mevasser. The recipient of the declaration, Isaac ha-Kohen b. Haggay, transfers the deed to Husayn b. Hillel (probably identical with Husayn al-Dhahabi). Samuel ha-Kohen b. Avtalyon, one of the leaders of the Palestinian congregation, is the signatory at the bottom of the deed. Written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 144 #4)

Fiscal register. (Compare AIU IV.C.453, T-S NS 243.75a, T-S NS 198.61, ENA 2886.1–7, T-S NS 71.64, T-S 8H22.18, Moss. IV,252.1, T-S NS 308.41, BL Or. 5557R.105, and possibly T-S Misc.24.106.) Reused for a Judaeo-Arabic commentary on the Mishnah both on recto and verso.

Letter from Netanel b. Moshe ha-Levi ha-Shishi to two of his friends (Yosef b. Ḥalfon ha-Kohen and 'my brother Elʿazar), during his confinement to his father's house for the sake of private study. The closing greetings are in Arabic script. "For studying at home I received 25 dinars, on condition that I do not leave the house—even to visit the public bathhouse. Dear brother, you cannot imagine what I suffer by being separated from you and from our friend the Devil (Abū Murra), the Bird of Jinnies (ʿUsfūr al-Jinn)...." See also T-S K25.64. (Information from Goitein's note card and Med Soc V, 428, 628, no. 66.)

Letter from Mardūk b. Mūsā to Nahray b. Nissim. In addition to some words about the trade of clothes, Marduk asks Nahray to assist a man who is coming to Fustat soon; the man's name has been lost.

Business letter from Shelomo b. Mūsā al-Mahdawī, possibly in al-Mahdiyya, to his cousin Peraḥya b. Yosef, in Fustat. In Arabic script.

Account of building operations ca. 1216. Expenditures for construction materials and labor, as recorded in the course of several days. The work is done at compounds of the qodesh and the Synagogue of the Palestinians. Some other expenditures, as for captives, are also included. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 412 #113)

Letter from a certain Yehuda to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen. In Judaeo-Arabic. Highly calligraphic. The letter concerns people who were captured in Palermo and also some issues of inheritance. Mentions "the Byzantines—a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand" (a reference to Deut. 28:49). (Information from Goitein’s index card.) Almost completely unmentioned in the literature (at least according to the FGP bibliography); should be edited.

Poetry, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. A few lines in a very rudimentary hand.

Court record. Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Elʿazar summons Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Yeshuʿa to make a deposition. Abū Saʿīd says that he entered נמרה(?) and came to a certain Ṣedaqa.... (The continuation is lost.)

Legal document. Deed of dedication of a house in Damascus to the Great Synagogue, ca. 1090. A certain Meshullam, known as Ibn Shurayq al-Dimashqi, i.e. "the Damascene," dedicates his house to the Great Synagogue of Damascus, to which it is adjacent. The document is a draft written in the hand of Avraham b. Natan, one of the prominent members of the courts in Fustat and Cairo; it is unsigned, and as the name of the donor's father was not yet known, a space was left so it could be inserted later. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 214-215 #33)

Business letter in Arabic script to Nahray b. Nissim, possibly to Nissim b. Ḥalfon (Aodeh), in Arabic script. On verso, Nahray's notes.

Court records. Large fragment, containing at least two distinct entries. Damaged and faded. There is a testimony that begins on line 25 of recto and continues onto verso. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1401 Seleucid, which is 1089/90 CE (recto, line 26). Concerning a woman named Mansūba bt. Nahray and her ketubba payment, which was to be paid in installments. Her divorced husband is named Avraham b. Yeshuʿa ha-Zaqen known as Nissim (verso, line 2). This document might be related to JRL SERIES B 4878. ASE

Account in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1150–90 CE, based on Goitein's assessment. "The Collector of mezonot," money for bread for the poor. Payments of dirhems to communal officials made by that collector during three weeks. Of the eight persons listed under the second and third weeks, six recur also in the first, which contains fourteen names. The Nasi receives 7 dirhems twice, followed by R. Nissim with 4 dirhems in the second week, 3 in the third, and 2 in the first. Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, Appendix B, #73 (p. 460).

List of contributors. Dating: From the time of the Nagid Avraham Maimonides (1205–37). Four pages of names, largely identical with those in contemporary lists, with contributions of 1/4, 1/2, 1, 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 2 (dirhems?). Some give together with the laborers of their workshops: Ibn al-Shāʿir (the Son of the Poet, a family name) wa-ṣunnāʿh, Saʿīd wa-ṣunnāʿh. Altogether about 214 names legible. The Raṣuy appears again, as sixth in the first column, but with the highest sum. Goitein, Med Soc, II, Appendix C, #50 (p. 491).

Letter in Arabic script from a father to his son Abū l-Majd. "The fire was in our hearts because of you, how you spent shabbat over bread and cheese (i.e., without meat). If it weren't for Yaʿīsh and how he asked the Rayyis to 'send them something to eat,' we wouldn't have found anyone to bring you anything.... If every shabbat you get up and come on Friday, spend shabbat with us, and travel back on Sunday, the way is long...." On verso he mentions that he has managed to send a sweet (ḥalāwa, v2) and possibly peaches (khawkh, v3). "I want to come to you, but I don't know the way." He has also sent something which he wants the son to work on very carefully (wa-ʿaqlak bi-l-ghalaṭ) for Abū l-Faraj Ibn al-Dujājī, evidently for Abū l-Faraj's son, since he then writes that "his son's name is—"; he then switches into Hebrew for the blessing for a son (ha-malʾakh ha-goʾel) and reveals the name to be Shelomo b. Yeshuʿa ha-Levi.

Recto: Letter to Elʿazar he-Ḥasid Tifʾeret he-Ḥasidim. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 13th century. The handwriting has Andalusī alephs, some words almost like the handwriting of a Maimonides. Might be a draft. Mentions the matter of 'our colleagues in the little apartment (al-quwayʿa)' and explains why something is impossible (wa-māniʿ dhālika min wajhayn). The letter seems to trail off mid-sentence, and the last two lines are in a different hand. Verso: Another letter in Judaeo-Arabic, it seems in a different hand. This one is a draft of a letter of appeal for help or charity. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed at least in part to R. Yaʿaqov; also mentions Meʾir, Yiṣḥaq, Yosef, and Shemuel. Fragment (middle part). Dating: Late, likely 14th–16th century. There is some business accounting in the middle of the letter with mysterious words.

Legal document. Abū l-Makārim undertakes to sell his female slave Ghazal if she behaves badly against his wife, the daughter of the head of the yeshiva (probably Masliah ha-Kohen Gaon b. Shelomo, head of the Jews 1127-1139), otherwise she has the right to sell her. Dated Heshvan 1466/1154. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves a settlement related to an inheritance divided into three shares; one of the parties is a woman named Nāshiya. (Information from Goitein's index card.)